ACT Teachers Representative and Deputy Minority Leader Antonio Tinio today called for genuine transparency in the deliberations on the proposed ₱7.2-trillion national budget for 2027, warning against a repeat of last year’s performative bicameral conference committee livestream that President Marcos Jr. himself announced.
“We need true transparency in the budget process, not the same spectacle that the President himself announced last year. Noong inanunsyo ni Marcos Jr. na ila-live livestream ang bicam para sa 2026 budget, akala ng madla may pagbabago. Pero ano ang nangyari? The pork barrel insertions and bloated Unprogrammed Appropriations remained intact,” Tinio said.
The lawmaker pointed out that the unprecedented livestreaming of the bicam deliberations for the 2026 budget in December last year was undertaken only it was exposed that funds inserted at the bicam level funded questionable items, including anomalous flood control projects.
“That livestream was nothing but damage control. Pakitang-tao lang. Yet, it was the President himself who made the announcement,” Tinio added.
“Livestreaming the bicam is like broadcasting a wrestling match that everyone knows is rigged. The pork allocations of the president and the legislators survived last year, and they will survive again if we settle for this kind of performative transparency,” he said.
Tinio stressed that real transparency means removing all forms of pork barrel from the budget, not merely broadcasting the proceedings for public consumption.
“Livestreaming won’t remove the pork in the 2027 national budget. Kahit pa i-livestream muli ang bicam, nandiyan pa rin ang mga unprogrammed appropriations at iba pang anyo ng pork barrel. Sa bicam pa nga ipinasok ang pinalaking P48 billion na Local Government Support Fund o LGU pork na pinamumudmod ngayon ng Malacañang sa mga mayor hanggang punong barangay. Kung seryoso talaga sa transparency, dapat tanggalin ang lahat ng uri ng pork insertions,” he said.
“The Marcos administration cannot hide behind performative transparency while perpetuating the same corrupt budgetary practices that have robbed the people of genuine public services and development. True transparency demands the dismantling of all pork barrel mechanisms, not just cameras in the bicam,” Tinio concluded.#
